“I’ve seen enough. Let’s get to the pub and see what Jagger has shaken loose.”
As they drove in through the open gates a group of bikes pulled out and Scar watched them leave with a frown. Who the fuck was that?
He found out as soon as he stepped inside the pub. Crash stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.
“Who was that, brother?”
“Fucking pigs. They’re not like any cop I’ve ever seen before. But, at least they were very thorough. They want to talk to everybody who worked last night. I’ve got to make some phone calls to get that done. He wants to see them here before we open. Not that we’re going to open. Jagger and Leo decided to close down for today.” He gestured up the stairs. “If you go up the stairs the office is the first door on your left.”
Scar allowed Brutus to lead him up the stairs to the office. He immediately knew by the dog bed next to it which desk was hers. It was tidy. Nothing out of place, just the way she had left it at the end of the night. He looked it over anyway. And found nothing.
Sitting in her chair he turned it and sat staring out the window behind the desk. He had a view over the back deck and the fire pit. It looked empty and forlorn. There should have been people out there. Turning away from the window his eye caught a bag hanging over the back of Leo’s chair and he froze.
Where was Liah’s big ass bag that she carried everywhere with her?
He immediately texted Hawk.
Scar: Boss, did you find her bag in the car?
The answer came almost immediately.
Hawk: Not that I’m aware of. Asking now.
And where the fuck was her phone? If she had called the gate while the shit went down shouldn’t her phone still have been in the dock in the car?
Scar: And her phone? Did you find her phone? If not get Ziggy to engage the tracker right now!
Grabbing Brutus’s lead he quickly made his way back downstairs where Sludge and Bok (Goat) where waiting for him. His phone chimed as he reached them.
Hawk: No bag, no phone. Zig on it. Wait there while we check.
“Sludge, did you guys happen to see if her bag was in the car? She always carries this big ass bag around with her. And her phone. No one seems to have found it.”
Sludge looked at Bok (Goat) then back at Scar. “There definitely wasn’t a bag in the car. But if she’s like my wife she would have put the bag in the boot. Women do that because of smash and grabs being so common place these days.”
Scar: Going back to accident scene to check the car.
He wasn’t going to wait for Hawk to get back to him and was on his way outside when his phone rang. He didn’t even get a chance to say a word.
“Get back to the clubhouse. The car is here.”
And again his prez didn’t hang around. He ended the call.
“We’ve been called back to the clubhouse. Let’s go.”
It was fucking unbelievable how close to the compound the abduction had taken place. It was a fucking slap in the face to the club and all the brothers.
Walking into the common room his attention was on Brutus who was shoving against him. He limped and Scar knew he was in pain as he led him to the couch and ordered him to lie down and have a rest. The dog stared up at him with baleful eyes before getting on the couch and lying down with a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes. Stubborn ass.
Damon, the prospect behind the bar, nodded his head towards the office. The door was open and Scar walked right in, Sludge and Bok (Goat) right behind him.
“Did you find her bag, Prez? And the phone?” He asked before he even had his ass in a seat.
“Buzz and Slim are checking the car over now. They’ll let us know if they find anything. Slim said she was going to have to cut the boot open because it’s impossible to open with all the damage. So we wait. There’s nothing on the phone yet.”
Fuck. He had hoped they’d have a location for the phone by now.
He was going to say more but was interrupted by Devon who came rushing through the door.
“Prez, the pigs are at the gate. They want to have a word.”
“Tell the gate to let them in.” Hawk waited until the prospect left. “We need to handle this very, very carefully. Rick sent these guys but we don’t know them so no outbursts and no sharing more than they need to know. Let’s go.”
He shoved his chair back and they followed him out. Brutus was still on the couch and Scar sat down next to him. That way he could grab him should it become necessary to restrain him.
Hawk didn’t sit down. Instead he leant against the bar with Beast and Kid staying close. When the cop and his team walked in they definitely weren’t what they were expecting. Not at all.
Crash had been right; they didn’t look like any cops he had ever seen. They were dressed similarly to the men in the common room. Battered jeans, black tees, leather jackets and heavy boots. Some had long hair, some had short and one was completely bald. All of them had a certain look in their eyes, a look the men in the room knew very well because they saw it when they looked in the mirror. Predators.
The one in the front’s eyes were on Hawk. “I’m Stevens and this is my team. Sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances. We need to talk to all the employees at the Thirsty Dog and to Ms Marx’s employer. If you could arrange that we will be out of your hair before long. I need to know if she’s a club girl or if she’s an old lady. If she has an old man I’ll need to speak to him as well and to any who might consider her family.”
“You know something about the way clubs operate it seems.” Hawk said quietly.
“Indeed. I’m only giving you this because Rick said you can be trusted and I haven’t been steered wrong by him yet. My team and I are undercover operatives. We don’t usually take on cases where our visibility might become a problem. With this case we can hide in plain sight. Our presence can be explained away as hangarounds helping out or we can wear the kuttes of a riding club as a cover.”
Scar had heard enough and wasn’t interested in hearing more. “Liah is mine. What do you need to know?”
Sharp eyes focused on him as Stevens turned, but then they turned to Brutus. “We saw the state of the back of the car and were wondering about the size of the animal that did the damage. We found a bullet lodged in the back of the seat along with blood. Damned glad to see he made it out alive.”
He continued before any of them could say anything. “I need to know where you were when the abduction went down. Don’t get pissed, it’s standard to clear anyone close to the target first.”
“I can do that.” Hawk stepped away from the bar and faced the cop. “He was in Zinkwazi in KZN. I called him. He flew in this morning to join the search for his woman. Chris isn’t a club girl she’s our family, and a valuable part of our club.”
Stevens nodded. “Thanks for clarifying. What kind of relationship did she have with her parents? And have they been informed of her abduction?”
Scar jumped in before Hawk could answer. “Her parents disinherited her when she refused to continue her law studies. Kicked her out of the house, cancelled her tuition at the university, took away her car and left her homeless and penniless on the street. The club took her in, gave her a job, a home and a family.”
By the shocked faces he knew most of the brothers hadn’t known why Liah had started working at the club. Hadn’t known that it was desperation that made her agree to become a club girl.
Stevens had his mouth open to ask more questions when the sounds of a baby wailing became louder and louder as it came closer. Leo came rushing through from the kitchen looking absolutely frazzled while the baby against her shoulder wailed loud enough to lift the roof. Jesus, his little brother had a set of lungs on him.
“Brutus, I need Brutus!” Leo shouted as she desperately looked around then seemed to sag with relief when she spotted him on the couch. She virtually ran over to them. Holding the baby out towards t
he dog she begged. “Please, Brutus, you need to make it stop, make him stop. I’ll buy you a truck load of biltong, just make it stop.”
With that she laid the screaming baby down next to the dog and stepped back. It was like a fucking miracle. The minute Brutus put his big face in the kid’s he went from full out screaming to a couple of whimpers to total silence.
Leo threw her arms in the air and shouted. “Where ever the hell you are Chris Marx when we find you I’m going to kill you! It’s your fault my kid is addicted to your dog. Dammit.” She turned into Wolf’s chest and slammed her arms around his waist and by the movement of her shoulders she was crying silently.
“We’ll find her, Kitten. I promise, we’ve got help and we’ll get her back from whoever took her.” Wolf said softly as he stroked her back. Her voice was muffled and by the look on Wolf’s face his woman was battling bad memories. “Not going to happen, baby. You need to believe we’ll find her unhurt.”
It was obvious Wolf hadn’t told her about the blood in the car. Fuck. He should have, it would have given her some peace of mind. If she knew her best friend was badly injured and that it might stop her kidnappers from physically abusing her she would be able to cope.
Hawk had enough. He took charge of the situation. “Stevens, this is Chris’s employer and best friend, Leo Edwards. The man behind her is her husband, Wolf. You can ask her your questions.”
Leo turned in Wolf’s arms but didn’t move away. His arms came around her waist and he held her against his chest as she wiped her wet eyes.
Stevens looked at Leo with narrowed eyes then smiled and nodded. “Mrs Edwards, sorry we are meeting under these circumstances. Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt Ms Marx?”
Leo shook her head. “There’s no one besides her stupid family.” She shook her head again. “Wait, not Zach though, he’s a good guy. Her father is a sleaze, her mother is a cold witch and her sister is a slut.”
He knew her parents where horrible but she hadn’t talked about her siblings. Liah had never mentioned them and he hadn’t asked.
“Can you clarify that statement for me, Mrs Edwards?”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, the name is Leo. Mrs Edwards makes me feel like an old married lady and I’m definitely not old.” She continued without giving Stevens a chance to get in a word. “Her parents cut her off when she dropped out of studying law. She was desperate to find a place to live, a job anything. She called her sister for help and was told to submit, she’ll eventually get to like it.” Leo’s eyes suddenly went huge. “I forgot! Oh Jesus, I forgot! It’s Isaiah! It has to be.” She whirled around and hammered a fist on Wolf’s chest before he grabbed it and she turned back to the cop. “The sleazebag made a deal with her parents. I think they sold Chris to him or something. She said he did some stuff to her on her twenty second birthday but her brother-in-law saved her from the worst. She never told me exactly what he did. That was just before she came to live here.”
Stevens looked at one of his men and he pulled a tablet out of his pack and started typing.
“Did she give you more information on him? A surname or how he knew her family, anything?”
Leo leant her head back against Wolf’s chest and closed her eyes as she rifled through her memories.
“All she said was that he was connected to the family business somehow. I think his parents and hers are friends or something.” She tipped her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “I wonder if this has anything to do with the feeling she sometimes got that she was being watched.”
Hawk stepped in and stopped the conversation in its tracks. “We need to sit down before we take this further. Everyone in the chapel, right the fuck now.” Turning to the bar where the prospect stood watching with wide eyes he barked his orders. “Tell Ziggy to meet us in the chapel, and to bring his laptop.”
Leo stayed behind in the common room with Quinn and Brutus. Aunt B had come in with a tray of tea for the two of them. But Scar knew it was a ruse to stay close and keep Leo calm.
Sitting at the table in church with cops in the room was a very weird feeling. He sat in his usual place against the wall and watched the men who were very comfortable as they took chairs against the wall. As if this was normal for them. So many questions about these guys that he knew they would never have the answers to.
They were waiting on Ziggy and he was getting impatient when he came in at last. Hawk quickly handled the introductions and then they got down to business. Sharing what they knew. The one with the tablet kept typing, taking down everything they said.
“This is good intel. We’ll see what we can do with the registration. And we’ll be investigating the family connection. We’ll get back to you as soon as we get something.”
Stevens looked directly at Scar. “All I’m asking is that you don’t go off without letting us know if you get a lead. We’re not working this as cops but as brothers, as fellow bikers. You can trust us. Nothing we learn during this investigation will go further or be used against you. I give you my word.”
With that said he stood and so did his men. He shook Hawk’s hand and then they were gone.
“Weirdest fucking cops I’ve ever come across.” Bulldog said quietly.
Everyone nodded. It was very obvious that none of them thought of them as pigs but as cops.
Ziggy suddenly spoke up. “I sent Kobus and Dollar to a location two km’s down from the pub. I found her phone.”
“Why didn’t you say anything while the cops were here?”
Ziggy shrugged. “Habit. They should get back here any moment.”
A sharp knock and the door opened, Buzz walked in holding Liah’s big bag. “Found it in the boot.” He said as he walked over and put it down in front of Hawk before taking his seat.
“Scar, do you want to do this, brother?” Hawk asked carefully and Scar nodded.
Kid pulled his chair to the side and made a space for him. “Pull your chair up here, brother.”
Scar did and taking a big breath he started taking shit out of her bag. Jesus, his woman carried around a lot of crap.
“Fuck me.” Spider shook his head. “Do all women carry around all this shit in their bags?”
The men with wives and old ladies laughed and nodded. Even Scar smiled. His ex had had all sorts of shit in her bag.
From the bag in front of him he extracted her wallet, opened it and lay the contents in a line on the table. He laid out her driver’s licence, ID book, debit and credit cards, several shopper cards, a Gautrain Gold card, a Medicalaid card and her GP’s card. She didn’t have any cash in her wallet.
Next came everything else she had in there, a notebook and pen, a make-up bag, tissues, make-up wipes, a clear zip lock bag with several hair ties and clips, a hair brush, a small box of tampons, two pairs of panties, a pair of socks, a zip lock bag with biltong sticks for Brutus, several pens, a container of headache tablets, a pack of plasters, a tube of hand cream, a pashmina, a clear zip lock bag with a pair of flat pumps, and a small book with telephone numbers. And finally it was empty.
Dollar walked in as he put the last item on the table and handed the phone in his hand to Ziggy. He stood at the side of the table staring at the things spread out in front of Scar.
“That’s a fuckload of stuff to carry around every day.” Dollar said in an awed voice. “Why?”
Bulldog laughed. “It’s for in case, brother.”
“In case what?”
“In case they need it.” He said with a grin.
Spider had an elbow in the table, his face resting in the palm of his hand as he stared at the items laid out on the table in fascination.
“I get the tampons, the make-up, the panties and the hairbrush” He slowly shook his head. “Everything else just fucking boggles my mind.”
He slowly reached out and tried to snag the baggie of biltong but Ice leant over and slapped him on the back of the head. “Keep your fucking hands to yourself
, Spider.”
Sniggers broke out as Spider gave his brother a dirty look.
“Maaaannn!” Spider moaned as he rubbed the back of his head. “I just wanted one little piece, not all of it.”
Hawk ignored all of them. “Check the notebook and the book with phone numbers.”
Scar did and very quickly shook his head. “It’s all about work, Prez. Nothing personal in here.”
While he checked the notebook and the book with phone numbers Ziggy had her phone plugged into whatever the hell the dock was and typing on his laptop.
He looked up with a frown.
“There are a three new voice messages. According to her history she deleted all messages that came from her mother without listening to them.”
“Let’s hear what we’ve got.” Hawk ordered.
The voice was icy with an upper class hiss and whine.
Amaliah, I have left a plethora of messages to no avail. Now I’m warning you, contact your father. He needs to have a word with you. You owe us you ungrateful girl. I am becoming bored with your stubbornness. Contact your father.
“That’s the first one.” Ziggy said.
Amaliah, this is your last warning. Contact your father or suffer the consequences of your disobedience.
“What the fuck?” Scar snarled.
“What a horrible piece of work.” Bulldog shook his head. “No wonder the kid took all the crap that was dished out to her here. It was nothing compared to what she was used to enduring at home.”
“We need to have a word with her parents.” Kid snarled. “No, let me rephrase that, I would like to have a word with them.”
“The next message came from someone called Zach.” Ziggy looked at Scar with raised eyebrows.
“That’s her brother.” Scar clarified for those who didn’t know.
Lee, I need to talk to you. Give me a call as soon as you get this. Don’t ignore this message, it’s urgent. Call me.
What did he want to talk to her about? The shit her parents wanted to force her into or something else?
Mark Of A Scarred Warrior (Iron Dogz MC Book 5) Page 29
